September 8, 2012 8:06pm EDTSeptember 7, 2012 4:20pm EDTMissouri and Texas A&M become full-fledged SEC members today in their first games in conference competition. It's up to both to pass the bar, and perhaps raise it. A&M lost its opener, 20-17, vs. Florida; Mizzou's first test has begun.

Kevin Sumlin hadn’t had a day quite like the one two Tuesdays ago. He wasn’t just stunned as he slumped in his office chair, trying to wrap his mind around the fact his long-awaited first game as Texas A&M’s coach—the Sept. 6 season opener against Louisiana Tech in Shreveport, La.—had just been postponed because of Hurricane Isaac.

He was, by his own description, “depressed.”

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As a team, Sumlin said this week, “I don’t think we could be any lower than we were.”

More than a week later, as the Aggies brace for their first battle of the season—and of their SEC lives—versus Florida at Kyle Field on Saturday afternoon, the atmosphere inside their team bubble certainly has changed. How so? They let a little of the mass excitement from fans inside.

That’s because the two SEC debuts—Missouri vs. Georgia in Columbia on Saturday night being the other—together are the biggest story of Week 2 in college football, and one of the biggest stories the sport will see unfold in all of September.

“People are putting a lot into this game,” Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel said, “much more than I am. If you win it or lose it, you get up the next day, shoot, you’ve got 10 games left.”

Pinkel’s math is sound. His grasp of the greater meaning of this weekend, not so much.

As so many fans of the sport see it, Saturday is a matter of putting SEC dominance on display. Yes, Missouri and Texas A&M are in the SEC now, but come on—they’re still essentially what they were in 2011, at least in terms of the quality of the players they have.

Some out there, especially in the South, want to see the Gators and Bulldogs flex their muscles, set their speed ablaze and then laugh their way back to Gainesville and Athens after convincing victories.

Others out there—frankly, lots of folks—would be heartened by a pair of opposite results.

“What I tell my football team is that we’re new,” Pinkel said, “and we have to go earn respect.”

Mark Richt’s mother called him earlier this week and asked him about the “old-man football” flap created by Tigers defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson. Richt wasn’t very inflamed by Richardson’s silly comment. The coach has more pressing concerns at the moment.

The main one is James Franklin. In addition to throwing for 2,865 yards and 21 touchdowns last season, the Tigers’ then-sophomore rushed for 981 yards and 15 TDs. Any Georgia supporters who don’t yet realize Franklin can be every bit as dangerous—and influential on this game—as Bulldogs QB Aaron Murray hasn’t been paying attention.

And, if they watched the opener vs. Buffalo, they saw overmatched Bulls quarterback Alex Zordich scramble for a whole lot of yards. Richt said his defense’s coverage was good throughout the game, but that his players didn’t maintain their rushing lanes or get off blocks once Zordich—who certainly can’t move like Franklin—went on the move.

Meanwhile, the Aggies-Gators matchup could boil down to this question: Which team has the bigger advantage, the one that got to shake off the rust with a game last week, or the one that didn’t play—leaving its opponent without game film to study?

Considering A&M has a new coach on top of that, Florida’s Will Muschamp believes the answer could go either way.

“I was hoping Kevin was going to send me a couple reels of practice,” Muschamp joked, “but he hasn’t done it yet.”

Sumlin’s take: “It’s an advantage for Florida to be able to play. The old adage is you make your most improvement between the first and second games.”

Yeah, well, not many people out there are going to care much at this point about what did—or didn’t—happen last week to these teams.

This long-anticipated Saturday is finally upon us. Can’t wait to see how the Aggies and Tigers begin to stack up against their conference brethren.